Dream on a back of a lorry

A SPACE craft landed in the heart of Manchester - on the back of a lorry. Space enthusiast Steve Bennett and his team from Hyde-based Starchaser Industries believe they will be ready to launch Britain's first manned space rocket by June 2005.

A SPACE craft landed in the heart of Manchester today - on the back of a lorry.

Space enthusiast Steve Bennett and his team from Hyde-based Starchaser Industries believe they will be ready to launch Britain's first manned space rocket by June 2005.

And today they brought their extra-terrestrial ambitions to Albert Square in the shape of their Starchaser 4 craft, which has already travelled two miles towards space and back. "The rocket is a real traffic-stopper," said Starchaser spokesman Edward Rowan. "We have had people walk into lamp-posts as the rocket goes past on the trailer."

The rocket is being displayed to a number of larger companies across the country - including McDonald's and Kellogg's - as part of a drive to bring in sponsorship for the manned launch of Starchaser 5 fromWoomera, Australia.

But the Starchaser team also want the project to win a place in the hearts and minds of the people of the north west, similar to the affection for Concorde, before it becomes a public limited company later in the year.